World Press Freedom Canada recognizes IJB’s Jenna Olsen

2026 World Press Freedom Day Awards Luncheon, Left to right: Robert Cribb, Jenna Olsen, and Gerry Gotfrit
By

Last week, Jenna Olsen received the coveted Press Freedom Student Achievement Award for her reporting on puppies being secretly tested and killed at an Ontario hospital in the name of human heart research. This prestigious award honors an outstanding student journalist who has demonstrated a commitment to press freedom.

“I am honoured to receive this award, and eternally grateful to Rob Cribb and the IJB for teaching me everything I know about demanding transparency and accountability through public interest reporting,” Olsen, now a Joan Donaldson and Peter Gzowski CBC News Summer Scholar, said to the IJB in an interview.

Olsen spent last summer at the IJB as an IJB/Unifor summer intern. This competitive program hires two emerging journalists for a four-month intensive internship, during which reporters work on high-stakes investigations under close mentorship from distinguished reporters.

“Through its unique model, the IJB trail-blazes a new path for what Canadian student journalists can accomplish, and gives them all the tools to create policy-changing journalism,” Olsen said of her time at the IJB.

This year, the IJB will welcome Shaina List and Vihaan Bhatnagar as its summer interns.

Investigative Journalism Bureau